


Have Heart, My dear

by GalracatKeith (SpaceDanster)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Battle/Aftermath, Good Lotor (Voltron), Keith is one of Lotor's generals, Keith is sent on a mission to aid the paladins, Keitor Month 2020, Lotor cries, Lotor desperatly tries to get to him, Lotor's heart gets broken, M/M, Soft Lotor, and does not return, but is too late, day 29, oh my god they were soulmates, this is some sad shit yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:13:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22469209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceDanster/pseuds/GalracatKeith
Summary: Day 29: Battle/Aftermath“Sorry for the hold up.” Keith croaked through the static of his communicator, and Lotor knew immediately something was wrong. Terribly so. His suspicion was confirmed only tics after the initial fear had settled in his bones, forcing the air from his lungs in a swift motion.“I’m afraid I won’t be making it back.”
Relationships: Keith/Lotor (Voltron)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 141
Collections: Keitor Month 2020





	Have Heart, My dear

**Author's Note:**

> This got really sad really fast, buut I'm considering maybe writing a sequel to it. Because why not make Lotor feel even worse?? Maybe. Quote is from Snow Patrol's Run

_I'll sing it one last time for you  
Then we really have to go  
You've been the only thing that's right  
In all I've done._

_Light up, light up  
As if you have a choice  
Even if you cannot hear my voice  
I'll be right beside you dear_

”Keith? Love, are you there?” The unease was rapidly growing among the group, the worry bleeding through Lotor’s normally steady voice. Acxa glanced back at their leader(and friend, because that’s what they were now), only to find him glaring daggers at the console in front of him. Any other moment in time, it would have been a comical view. To see the Exiled Prince, the future Emperor scowling at a piece of machinery. But now, it was anything but.

“Sorry for the hold up.” Keith croaked through the static of his communicator, and Lotor knew immediately something was wrong. Terribly so. His suspicion was confirmed only tics after the initial fear had settled in his bones, forcing the air from his lungs in a swift motion. 

“I’m afraid I won’t be making it back.”

Mere moments after his voice had sounded through the communicator, did the video feed of Keith and his surroundings play before them. The sight was one that would surely haunt Lotor for decaphoebs to come. Keith was huddled behind what he could only assume was either boulders, or the remains of a fallen emergency shuttle. Lotor didn’t specifically fancy neither of those options, only demanding one simple explanation.   
Why had Lotor received the coalition’s distress signal, and not his own general’s? Even after being as kind as to lend out the former paladin for apparent ‘peace keeping’ duties, he had found himself being hailed by the Castleship. The black paladin and the princess had both demanded answers he did not have, answers he had not known would be needed.

Truly, he should have known better than to answer the Princess’s accusations with ones of his own. But the insinuation alone that Lotor would have conspired against his own general, to lead Keith into a trap...It was a far bigger insult than the princess might have first assumed. Not only was the former paladin one of his most loyal warriors, but Keith was a part of his soul, a lost piece of himself Lotor had thought himself ever unable to love. There was not any possible realities where Lotor would not have done everything in his power to keep his lover out of harm’s way. He would rather die a thousand deaths, have his sanity torn apart by quintessence until his body was nothing but an empty husk, before he would let it come to this.

The Princess had been quiet for some time after that, leaving the black paladin to give Lotor his much needed coordinates. If not the so called defenders of the universe would assist the man who was once one of their own, Lotor would be damned if he would not leave until he got the information he needed.

He knew there was a battle, and he knew Keith had been caught in the middle of it. He knew the planet’s name, and the evacuation that had been taking place. What he did not know, however, was Keith’s location.

“Tell me where you are, we can be there in a few doboshes.” The urgency in the Prince’s voice did not go unnoticed, the smile slipping from Ezor’s cheerful facade as she stepped towards her girlfriend. For once, Zethrid remained quiet. A calculating, bordering on furious look visible on her face. Despite her barely contained rage, a look of understanding dawned upon her at the tone her fellow general had used.  
Axca simply stepped forward to Lotor’s side, gazing out into the vast empty space ahead of them, stars dying and born anew all around them. Keith had become family to them all, and in another life he might have been somewhat like a younger brother to her.  
None of this mattered any longer, if the resigned acceptance in their friend’s voice was anything to go by.

“Keith, what is your location? Lotor requested again, refusing to acknowledge the solemn acceptance suffocating the room. What was this nonsense? They needed to get to him right this moment. There was not a moment to waste on idiotic squabbling, how could it be so hard to focus on the task at hand. They needed to- 

“No, Lotor. I can’t risk-“ a choked cough sputtered through the feed, Lotor’s eyes widening in horror, watching as specks of fresh blood painted Keith’s pale skin. “I can’t risk anything happening to you, you’re too important.” 

“Keith, please.” There was an unspoken promise in his voice, of secret meetings and plans of the future. _Their future._ A future of a liberated universe, of peace among the Galra and every other species. A future together, with a quiet ceremony on his lover’s home planet. A promise of love and acceptance, despite what the universe might throw their way. To love and cherish one another, until every star in the sky would fade from existence.

A promise he now would have to break.

“Lotor.” His own name alone brought tears to his eyes, and he could vaguely register that none of his generals would look at him. _They couldn’t._ With a glance to his hand on the console, his eyes settled on the silver band of promise bound around his finger.

_He could still recall Keith bringing him aside after an especially harrowing mission, face flushed and hair askew, but with an expression so affectionate his heart had near failed him.They had spent the next pair of vargas watching planets and stars pass them by, until his lover had gone worryingly quiet, and Lotor, once again, feared he might have misspoken.  
His fears had been without reason as Keith moved from his seated position, searching the crannies and nooks of his armor until he produced a jewelry from his boot.  
“I don't know how the Galra do it, and it would have ruined the surprise if I asked..but on Earth…well.” Keith’s voice had been quiet, soft but with a surprising amount of nervosity considering the situation. Which, he at the time had understood little of. But as much else, it was about to change._

_“Lotor, do you wanna marry me?”_

“You are our future, without you-“ Keith’s voice broke through the static with growing difficulty, all the while not losing the factual tone of his voice. Lotor both loved and hated how his lover could sound so calm, even when facing certain death. Keith had grown impossibly much since their first meeting, no longer throwing himself into harm's way out of hot headed stubbornness. Which was why he simply could not make sense of what was happening. 

He could still hear the battle raging from Keith’s side of the communicator, turning to face Acxa in one last desperate attempt to get answers. _Where is he? Why won’t the tracker work?_ His friend shook her head in silence, neither of them needing words to express what they already knew.

Keith must have manually disabled the tracker. Making it impossible for them to follow, to send any sort of backup. Leaving him behind.

“You can’t possibly ask this of me.” Lotor’s voice trembled with emotion when he turned back to the video feed in front of him, eyes fixed on the image of his lover. There was fear in Keith’s eyes, there was no doubt about that. But there was also acceptance, acceptance of a fate that was not his to bear.

“You must. Promise me, Lotor.” To think the day would come where Keith would be his voice of reason, for Lotor to _abandon_ his soulmate when he is needed the most. It was unbearable. 

“This place is gonna blow any minute.” Keith spoke easily, as if he was simply reciting what they may have for lunch, and not the final words they would ever exchange. Lotor refused to believe this could be the end, there must be something. A tracker, anything to find his lover’s position. If only he could-  
“I managed to get the last of refugees out of here, but-” Another cough rang through the feed, and for the first time, Lotor had to force himself to look away. 

“I love you.” Lotor sucked in a breath at the simple words they only ever shared from the inside of their quarters, as if it was a safely guarded secret. Keith’s voice had grown weaker across the transmission, and Lotor could not help but force his eyes shut as shallow breaths broke his heart clear apart.  
“I love you, Lotor.” Keith repeated, the layer of exposed fear in voice near sending the Prince to his knees. He should have been there, this all would have been avoided had the factions still loyal to his father not have ambushed what had only been a peaceful escort mission.(one which Keith had insisted he take part of.) 

“Keith, my love.” Lotor caught the sad smile gracing Keith’s lips, wanting nothing more than to be able to brush away the tears slipping from his lover’s eyes. “I love you, please don’t do this to me. I beg of you-”

“I’m sorry, Lotor. I love you so much, and I’m sor-” The transmission was abruptly cut off, leaving Lotor to stare at the blank screen with panic settling in his chest. Sincline was sent off course as an explosion burst out from a nearby moon, the moon orbiting the planet the Black Paladin’s coordinations had sent them to. Only as he caught himself on the console in front of them, did Lotor’s eyes return to the empty screen before them, and the realization along with it.

_No, no, no, no, no, no-_

Lotor didn’t realize he was screaming until he found himself on his knees, claws digging into the floor of Sincline’s interior. His chest was burning, he could no longer breathe from the pain shooting through his heart. Keith was gone, gone to him forever. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, this couldn’t be happening. The prince curled in on himself where his claws had embedded themselves into the floor, his throat raw and aching from screaming. The sound soon turned into a series of choked sobs, galran and altean curses alike slipping from his lips. It felt as if there was no end to his tears and before he realized what was happening, he found himself pulled into an odd sort of embrace. 

In any other setting, the view would have been absurd. Zethrid in all her brutality, held around not only her girlfriend, but also Acxa and Lotor. The latter accepted the unfamiliar concept of a group hug, his mind already too heavy with grief to act accordingly.   
Now, however, as he let himself sink into the embrace, he could feel nothing but comfort coursing through his body at the action his generals-no, his friends had committed to. 

Tears still stained his skin as Lotor stepped away from the group, watching quietly as each one of them left the room to quietly mourn in quiet, a solemn smile crossing his face as Ezor was tucked neatly underneath Zethrid’s arm. Acxa hesitated by the door, lifting her eyes from the floor to fix them on the prince.

“Lotor-”

“You can go, Acxa. I will need a moment to think about our next move.” It was apparent she wanted to disagree with him, if the slight twitch of her mouth was anything to go by. She was worried about him, but most of all she was hurting, and Lotor knew as much. He had not been blind to Acxa and Keith’s sibling-esque bond, and she would without doubt need time to heal. He would be a fool to deny her such.

He was not okay, not by far. One day perhaps, he would be. But until then, Lotor would finish what he had started, and see to it that his lover’s murderers were brought to justice. 

Lotor cast his gaze into the emptiness of space, watching as the ship flew further and further away from where his future had been stolen from him. The loss of his beautiful mate, of the man who had brought hope and light into the Prince’s bleak world, a crime worse than the worst of betrayals. If not justice, Lotor would have his revenge.

_Sooner or later._

He lifted his hand to rest it across his chest, feeling his own heartbeat painfully in his chest. Once this was all done with, perhaps they would meet again.

One day

“I will see you among the stars, my love.”


End file.
